Catholica Commentary by Francis Brown: A personal evolution in spirituality #21

Chapter 13 of Francis Brown's book is only two paragraphs in length. In those two paragraphs he questions that sense many of us were brought up with in the communion prayer based on the words of the Centurion who witnessed the death of Christ, "Lord, I am not worthy...". Does God create "unworthy" things, or people?

Worth and Humility...

The life of Jesus as lived in Judea and surrounds and since his death lives on in me. It has stirred up in me initially a respect and love for the man who lived simply in this world dimension a life fully reflective of the reality of his being One-In-God. It showed me how to begin living my humanity fully in relationship to my reality as it revealed itself to be. It prompted an acceptance of inner transfiguration as I began to see me as a ray of the sun beaming the light and goodness of the Creator. The humble way Jesus lived it taught me that the grace and glory of God apparent in him was equally shared by me and all humanity, appearances to the contrary. The brilliance and magnificence of me is no less or greater than in the most "lowly" member of humankind. Jesus alive in me does not approve of self-denigration or self-effacement. Neither does it approve self-aggrandizement or self-seeking. The grace and glory I have is of God and is there as of the essence of being One-in-God.

“In what way is a sunbeam unworthy of the Sun from which it emanates? God creates according to, and with the perfection of, Divinity.” ...Francis Brown There has been discomfort in me in Mass within the breaking and sharing of our Eucharistic meal on hearing the words, "Lord, I am not worthy...". When the Centurion first used those words he was speaking at a very human level as one well trained in the militarist required deference of ordinary soldiers to superior officers. When God has chosen to share Divine Life with me who can then say I am not worthy? In what way is a sunbeam unworthy of the Sun from which it emanates? In what way is a wave of the ocean unworthy of the ocean which produced it? God creates according to, and with the perfection of, Divinity. Is not the offspring of God worthy of the Divine Will that brings it into being? Are we not part of that Divine Will that brings into being an image of the Creator? How can I become unworthy? Does God create unworthy beings? Does God extend Divine Life and Love in a weak manner and using partiality in divine creativity? Is the creativity of the offspring of God any less than the creativity of the Source, of the Cause? Is not the effect acceptable to the Cause? I prefer to sing the glory of God who created me more rather than less.

“Is the creativity of the offspring of God any less than the creativity of the Source, of the Cause? Is not the effect acceptable to the Cause? I prefer to sing the glory of God who created me more rather than less.” ...Francis Brown

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Francis Brown

Francis Brown is a priest of the Roman Catholic Rite who was ordained in St Stephen's Cathedral in Brisbane in 1953 after completing study and training at St Paschal's College in Box Hill, Victoria. He served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea with a group of fellow Franciscans from 1955 to 1973. Having obtained permission to marry in 1973 he worked amongst the villagers on road construction and continued as their elected representative in Local Government. At the end of 1973 he, along with his wife, Mary, continued family life in Australia. He worked as a Probation and Parole Officer before retirement and has continued an active engagement in the parish and community life of the suburb of Kingsgrove South-West of Sydney. His main hobby is writing poetry and prose endeavouring to help himself and others gain a greater awareness of God and all as One.

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[Index of Commentaries by Francis Brown]

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